Curators Jeff Rosenheim of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brian Wallis of the International Center of Photography joined Howard Greenberg, one of the preeminent photography dealers sat down this week and spoke about the world of fine art photography. Thanks to moderator Susan May Tell, and photographer Aaron Lee Fineman for his photographs (just as you preferred, they're in B&W).

Here's my account for all of you who couldn't attend.

Each panelist gave a brief history of how they came to photography, and I found the most surprising thing to be Jeff Rosenheim's early interest in Plains Indian beadwork, which led him to the Missouri Historical Society and all their collections, photography being one of them. Not the expected route to become passionate about photography.

When he opened his first gallery, Howard Greenberg said he never thought about who his audience was, he just wanted to show work he was interested in. He wanted to show traditional work and work by artists no one had ever heard of. For Jeff Rosenheim it was not what was on the walls of Greenberg's gallery, it was the photography in the gallery art bins that fascinated him. In fact, he said the Met had never bought anything from Greenberg's walls, it was from the art bins in the gallery.

Each panelist spoke of about how they make decisions about what to show, Brian Wallis spoke about showing work that was known in order to be able to then slip in something unknown to teach people. But he admitted it took guesswork and intuition to decide what to show.

One of the most interesting things Susan asked the panelists was about how long it took from conception to hanging a show. Brian said that it depended, but for historical exhibits it took about 3 years Howard said his gallery did 7 or 8 shows a year and were planned pretty far in advance. It was interesting to learn that he "rode the coattails" of the museums, because he couldn't put up a show of the same photographer at the same time, but after it could be valuable.

Jeff said they do four shows a year of contemporary photography and it took about a year to plan each one. When he hangs shows in other galleries in the museum it can take from three to six years to plan, depending on which gallery he wants to use, since some are shared with other disciplines (prints, paintings, etc.). He said the fastest show they ever did was the Robert Polidori show of his Katrina photographs that they rushed to hang a year after the hurricane. Jeff brought a big laugh to the room when he said photography was "only slightly above musical instruments" in importance at the Met. That helped to explain how shows may be harder to hang there, since money is allocated at the museum by the seeming importance of each collection.

The roles of collectors and auction houses to the curators was discussed and all felt collectors had a very important role in exposing photography. They were the "front line of ideas," according to Brian. And by the way they present different types of work together, auction houses can generate new ways of looking at art. "When a collector contacts you, it's usually an extraordinary experience," said Jeff. For Howard, collectors are fascinating. "They're really curators."

Jeff spoke about the joy of visiting artists and seeing what they collect, "I've learned so much by seeing what artists collect."

The most valuable and probably useful information began when Susan asked about the importance of photographer's prints being editioned. Brian said he was much more interested in something that was one-of-a-kind, and that editions are a multiple medium, and somewhat less interesting. But that is the world we live in. Jeff doesn't care about editions, for him it's up to the individual photographer. But he referenced Lee Friedlander and thought his work was priced lower for someone of his stature due to his printing many editions of his work. Howard pointed out that from his perspective, buyers wanted limited versions of the work they bought. "It's a sad state, but we have to deal with it."

Jeff spoke about the desire for the unique object, saying "If there is an edition of three or three hundred, they're not the same anymore. My job as a collector for a museum is to get the best one. You know as photographers that there is a better and a not as good print. My job is to get the right one in my collection."

None of the panelists cared about signing prints, but Howard warned, "don't be visually offensive. Henri Cartier-Bresson is the only signature people care about seeing."

When the topic of digital photography and digital prints was broached, the expected outrage never came. "I'm getting used to digital," said Howard. "What does it mean? More important, it's becoming more and more acceptable. It'll become a non-issue as we become more sensitized to it."

"Digital applications of photography extend the democratic promise of photography," said Brian. "More exciting about digital is the reach of photography and the information-sharing possibilities of digital."

"The Met collects the work artists make. We never tell an artist what it should be. We have to accept it," said Jeff. "Stephen Shore made contact prints and was never able to use the potential of film to make the prints he wanted to. Now he scans them and makes new prints, digital allows them to 'bubble forth'--it's one of the great things. It's what they always wanted."

While Brian and Jeff use the Internet to look at new work, and find photography they didn't know existed, Howard, "can't look at works on the screen. It lessens the experience of looking at photos for me. But for museums, catalogs of museums online, it's fantastic."

I think most of the photographers were wondering how they can get their work in front of these three big wheels in the industry. Brian spoke of how he sees work at the open portfolio reviews the ICP has. "Send it in, or walk in and a curator will review it." He also said websites were a source of information for them. However Howard is not looking for new artists to represent. Jeff says they look at portfolios as they come in. So get on it photographers!

When the panel was asked about how they feel about artists taking their own paths to put their work out, especially since it's so difficult to get a gallery or museum show, Howard said," It's great for any artist to put their work out in their own way."

"The important thing to consider is that the means of presentation becomes part of the message," said Brian.

"If an artist can convince me they've done something great in their own home--I want to see that!" said Jeff. "Yes we look at online magazines and curated sites. Paper ephemera is where we are rivals. It's so valuable and germane to photography. We have teams of people looking for this."

The Met will buy print on demand books from artists if that is the way the work is collected. He stressed that the artist determines how their work is presented, and the museum responds accordingly. They have a large collection of artist books, especially if this is the only form the work exists in.

Howard stressed that raising the price on each multiple edition wasn't something he was a fan of. "Keep the price the same throughout the edition. Rather, increase the price on the first edition."
All of the panelists were open with information, informative about what they do and
why, and had a sense of humor. I think this was a wonderful panel and everyone left with information they didn't have before. Just another wonderful panel from ASMPNY.